Fri Apr 29 17:44:44
I'm sure that "Lip Sync Battle" must typically be a terrible show, but I watched this episode because it guest-starred Joel McHale (Community, The Soup) and Jim Rash (The Dean from Community)..
[about 22 minutes]
http://awe...de-13-joel-mchale-vs-jim-rash/
..was very funny! :D .. if you like McHale and Rash, they basically did circles around the show's format and kept it ultra weird :)

Cherub Cow
Member

Sat Apr 30 18:54:41
I watched the "Lip Sync Battle" episode with Sonequa Martin-Green and Lauren Cohan (both from Walking Dead) ..
http://awe...cohan-vs-sonequa-martin-green/
..and can confirm that the show is terrible when people play by its format :p

pillz
Member

Sun May 01 03:53:01
What the fuck did I just watch (TVD S06E19-20)

So earlier in the season Alric tried to bring his wife Joe back to life. He used a stone called the Phoenix Stone that he was told had this capability.

Well, not really. It just stores vampire souls taken using a special blade the stones supposed to be attached to wielded by some immortal vampire huntress. So it can restore a vampires soul to its body, or to another body, but not really revive the dead.

Well apparently vampire souls and human bodies don't mix so Joe's body, now with random vampire, began to die.

I am 99% sure she was not at this point a vampire.

Well, anyways, fast forward and the Phoenix stone is destroyed and all the souls scatter. Stephan had just been trapped in the stone, but his body hadn't been destroyed. Well, he ended up in some random guys body and another vampire in his. Random vampire was A-OK but Stephan's new body began to fail in about 48 hours...

Now, after that is resolved, everybody ends up going to hunt down this escaped vampires.

BUT HOW ARE THEY ALIVE.
The souls had to possess corpses and there can't be a vampire corpse unless it's killed with the blade. They would just burn or stone or whatever. And Rayna typically burns all the bodies of her victims so there are no vampire bodies lying around.

They should all be trapped in human bodies like Stephan was, bodies of dead people... But they're all fucking vampires!

And they spent two episodes killing this vampires... IN THE FUCKING DAYLIGHT. These vampires are BRAND NEW. It's been like a week tops. How the fuck did they get daylight rings???

Like fuck. They just finished fixing Stephan's mortality in his human corpse body and now they're killing a bunch of impossible vampires in day light????? How did somebody get paid to write this shit?

I've kept up with it, and it's a kind of weird mix between completely awful and sometimes clever. The awful probably comes from Lauren German, who has some really poorly acted scenes on the show.. but the scenes may also be the writing's fault, because I don't know how *any* actor could save those moments (for instance, in a single scene she has to cope with the fact that her ex-husband had attempted to murder another officer and had let her become an outcast for months due to his coverup, and then within two lines she has to emotionally recover and strategize their next movie.. clearly this scene should have been split up). Then on the good side it has some really creative elements — probably from its DC comics basis — like artifacts, power limitations, and uncertain moralities..

Blerg. Will probably keep watching whenever they release season 2, but hopefully their budget will increase because they have clearly had to combine scenes in artificial ways.

pillz
Member

Fri May 20 17:10:11
So Vampire Diaries wrapped up for the season.
There was no super-retarded bullshit ala my last post, so that was good.

Otherwise it was sort of retarded. Nobody died which is super disappointing, although I really thought Enzo was a goner. Should have been.

I guess they've set up some weird super evil thing for next season but I can't say I'm that excited for it. Damon has spent the entirely of this season going back and forth between 'I LOVE ELENA SO MUCH I CANT GO ON OR ILL BE MYSELF AND LOSE HER' & 'I WILL BE DAMON AND DO DAMON THINGS'.

The result is that Damon gets results, but its not worth the viewer having to suffer the same retarded dialog from him every episode. Literally like 5 minutes each episode is dedicated to his bleeding heart 'I'm in love but Im bad and Im sorry' bullshit.

Fuck it.

The Originals on the other hand, wow, really surprised. They finally killed Devina (thank god) and presumably in a way where she can never return - however we've established the writers for these shows don't know what they're doing.

Less happy they killed Cammy, because at least I liked Cammy, so Klaus' monologues about being a misunderstood evil maniac with a grinch heart were bearable. Now shes gone and they are on par with Damon's (in cringe-worthiness, frequency, and irrelevance to plot).

2 episodes left to watch but I'm guessing Kole is the first antagonist of next season and Marcel dies in ep 22 or maybe he kills Kole and is next seasons antagonist.
Would honestly take back all the bad things I've said about TO if they were to kill Marcel and Devina in the same season.

TVD has a 5 year time skip btw. Karoline's visit to New Orleans suggests that Marcel might succeed in driving out Klaus, and her mention of him and the death of Cammy make me hopeful of a Klauroline in the feature.

That is all.

The Children
Member

Thu May 26 12:32:42
limitless

god damn boys and girls. whatdafck did i just watch. did they copy the movie in da first episode or what. cept it was literally shit compared 2 da movie. whatdafck.

Damian DB
Moderator

Thu May 26 18:13:01
limitless was cancelled so it's all good

tumbleweed
the wanderer

Thu May 26 18:26:42
"The Night Manager" was decent (was a 6-part miniseries on AMC)

featuring Loki & House... but not as those characters...

McKobb
Member

Thu May 26 18:45:32
It was an OK spy show...made odd by House saying such, "be a good chap".

McKobb
Member

Thu May 26 18:56:06
*such as

pillz
Member

Thu May 26 20:24:35
TO went exactly as I expected it to, tbh.

Spoilers

Marcel took the potion as soon as it was offered and played the Mikkelsons by forcing them to kill him thus activating it.

Then he actually killed Kole, Elijah and Freya. Well they didn't die, but he did mean to kill them. They're now in stasis or whatever, as no cure exists for his bite, and Freya's cure is missing or whatever for herself.

So now Marcel has to die. I mean, he really as to. He just tried to kill 3 of them, for real, so he dies, right? I just want him to be gone. This must mean he'll be gone.

Anyways been interesting, much much better than TVD.

McKobb
Member

Thu May 26 23:02:45
And Elizabeth Debicki is hot.

The Children
Member

Mon Aug 01 06:57:11
hefe (ash) vs evil dead

dayum this shit is the shit. definitely way better as a series than as a movie. as a movie this is like a b caliber movie. maybe even lower. but as a series, its fkin brilliant.

the lame jokes, the loser appeal, the sometimes even cheesy zombies, none of it matters when its such a high quality series.

only thing i dunt like is how near the end, the cabin is suddenly hunted. always thought it was just a normal cabin but with evil around it in the woods.

anyway, watched whole season 1 in a go. what a quality series.

8.5/ 10

Cherub Cow
Member

Mon Aug 01 12:25:00
Yes!! Ash ftw!! New season is in September. I hope Sam Raimi guest directs again because his season 1 episode (the premiere I think) was really good.

pillz
Member

Mon Aug 01 13:57:58
Watched Stranger Things on Netflix. 10/10

It's a sci-fi/horror mini series set in the 80s. It is heavily inspired by 80s popculture, particularly horror and sci-fi, and it has multiple nods and homages to differnt 80s things.

I'm sure I missed most of the references but it was fun to catch a few. The show was well written and the acting was pretty good for the most part. Winona Ryder is in it, and I guess she is the only big name.

Highly recommend it to anybody who lived through the 80s and any fans of sci-fi/horror.

Hood
Member

Thu Aug 04 17:39:13
I can second Stranger Things

McKobb
Member

Thu Aug 04 17:56:26
Very borrowey, but I enjoyed it!

The Children
Member

Mon Aug 15 08:42:51
im watchin it now. i liked the 1st episode. was kinda slow but ok so far.

McKobb
Member

Mon Aug 15 08:56:56
Woo-hoo! Walking dead round the corner!

Cherub Cow
Member

Mon Aug 15 21:15:26
Yes!! This weekend is FWD, and once it finishes the season, it'll be right into WD :D

The Children
Member

Wed Aug 17 11:01:21
not likin stranger things so far. pace is 2 slow. weird gaps between story and shit. crappy cgi and shit. can barely even see the monster. very unbelievable how the kids went off 2 find this monster on one side and how the 2 older teens went off on the other side. they fkin live in the same house. how the fck have they no knowledge of eachothers plans.

its a light version of the walkin dead. part comedy and shit. the cgi and special effects lack here and there and episode 1 needs gettin used 2 but overall it aint bad. as u progress through season 1, its actually pretty decent 2 watch.

so u got a group of ppl, a medic, a sharpshooter, a former hooker, a couple, and 2 mains and 1 asshole on a trip in zombie land.

i wuld say 7.3 out of 10 not bad indeed.

Cherub Cow
Member

Wed Sep 14 00:57:10
I think UP was making threads about this show (missed them already), but HBO's "The Night Of" was a really good mini series. Basically like a long episode of Law&Order that focused on how dysfunctional the criminal justice system can be (rampant incompetence, slow wheels of justice, *becoming* a criminal by being subject to prison, etc.). Very well done. And the entire thing is out so it's ready to be binged like a Netflix series ;p

Cherub Cow
Member

Sat Sep 17 01:06:21
Season 20 of South Park started:
http://awe...n-20-episode-1-member-berries/
A few fun moments. Looks like another story arc in progress... with 10 episodes for the season, looks like they'll be able to do commentary on the rest of the U.S. election

'Designated Survivor' started this past Wednesday, first episode seemed decent... Keifer Sutherland goes from being housing guy to president (kinda disturbing on that point... hopefully he'll lead the country to ruin)

Didn't realize that SVU came back this week, so I'll start spamming that thread :p

Ahk! MacGruber is such a sell-out! (Pepsi!)

Cherub Cow
Member

Tue Sep 27 02:27:37
The Designated Survivor pilot was good! Very intense. I don't know how they'll keep up this kind of plot for a sustained period (maybe just by avoiding time jumps? Keep everything within a short window like "24"?), but I'll be keeping up with it :)
Good to see Maggie Q in something again; she seemed like a cool Nikita, though I never got far into that show.

Cherub Cow
Member

Sat Oct 01 04:51:27
Designated Survivor episode 2 was pretty good. I'm hoping that the survivor in the cliffhanger was Nicolas Cage, who was looking for treasures below the capitol building.

Palem
Person.

Sat Oct 01 20:26:12
Designated Survivor looks kinda "meh", but I'm not a fan of political dramas in general so my opinion isn't worth much

Palem
Person.

Sat Oct 01 20:42:35
I've been watching Atlanta and have liked it thus far. Just to add something worthwhile to the thread lol

Designated Survivor definitely gets pretty cheesy, but so far they seem to be riding their initial concept (speculating how the U.S. would deal with a loss of almost all leadership) fairly well. Probably it's just working towards a nostalgia trip where Kiefer Sutherland gets to be a cross-section of historically good presidential moments and where new, less bureaucratic leaders get to step up... but a lot of its success will probably just be from terrorism as a spectacle.. like watching each week just to see who else gets blown up and how answers get settled, kind of like how lots of people were glued to the TV after 9/11 and wanted answers, except this time peeps get to imagine that the lessons were learned and that Sutherland will do a better job ;p

Thu Nov 03 23:16:57
Just watched a newer episode of Daily Show (Kal Penn guest), and it was pretty hilarious! Particularly because nothing was funny, and the audience didn't even laugh during an entire fake report sketch. The audience also seems to be doing the "generous laughter" thing for Noah's frequent bad jokes... pretty special :p

Hood
Member

Thu Nov 03 23:39:39
When I heard they were replacing Stewart with Noah, I listened to a few of Noah's jokes. They were mostly unfunny.

Cherub Cow
Member

Fri Nov 04 13:12:26
Pretty much same for me :( .. I watched his first episode [or 2?] and have since just checked in every month or so to see if he's improved .. doesn't seem he has :(

Have mentioned this in parts before, but he was always one of the lamest correspondents :/ .. his long-form stand-up has been even worse.. just doesn't seem to have enough personality for the main chair. I'm pretty convinced that he was simply the only person they could get to take the job; all the better, former correspondents (Samantha Bee, Wyatt Cenac, Larry Wilmore, etc.) all had opportunities for their own shows, so they wouldn't take it. Noah also has the *appearance* of an outsider (his South African semi-status), so Daily Show probably thought Noah would give them diversified credibility.. which in practice does not work if he's just not funny...
Blerg..

Palem
Person.

Fri Nov 04 18:46:26
I try really hard to like Trevor Noah, but the daily show has just lost me. There's so many better options now. The only advantage it has over most of the other shows is that it's on every night.

The show would be so much better if they would stop this serious shit and get back to being a comedy show.

Cherub Cow
Member

Thu Nov 10 13:23:44
Daily Show got super serials about their election coverage -- was at least fun to watch the disappointment and racist-blaming ;D

Last night's South Park was pretty funny (S20-E7)! Some definite lol moments; though most of the lols were from random jokes that didn't necessarily have to do with the story. They had to near-completely change the narrative between E6 and E7 because they didn't leave much room for the possibility that Trump (Garrison) would actually win. Like instead of Garrison overcoming nostalgia and stopping his own election they have to make him a nostalgia drone who has no mind. Clinton also got a story arc where she plans to stop Garrison's inauguration or something... seems like a strange direction. They may have made the plot too reactive to current events (I mean, this episode aired the day after the events that it depicts)...

Have also kept up with Lucifer. It got super repetitive in season 2 (same "Detective Douche" joke over and over), and in last week's episode Lucifer revealed his "true" face to the psychiatrist, but this week's episode had her just accept it for friendship... whereas it seems like no amount of "proof" would convince a good skeptic (like she could easily just see it as a trick of perception or something)... don't think this show can go anywhere, but I'll probably watch to the end of the season...

Pillz
Member

Mon Dec 12 13:01:21
Watched Ascension, a sci-fi mini series on Netflix. Easily better then Dark Matter or The Expanse. Wish it had been picked up for a full run.

Also watched Kuromukuro. It's a mecha animal with... A disturbing number of similarities to Ald.Noah Zero. Kids at special mech faciltity stave off alien invasion. An alien princess. Dopel gangers.

Had a lot more exposition then Ald Noah. And by that I mean episodes where plot isn't necessarily advanced much but you see character interaction and development. Though I thought it was a bit much considering 13 ep seasons.

Stiiiill I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a mecha anime, at least.

Rewatching Band of Brothers... Slowly. So so good.

Next is Mr. Robot

Pillz
Member

Tue Jan 17 16:51:01
Band of brothers on hold because the DVD is fucking up but looks perfect.

Finished the new Van Helsing series. Or season 1 anyways, which is all there is.

It is just a shitty zombie show except the zombies are semi intelligent vampires.

I think the lead actress is ugly AF.

Meh. It was okay I guess. Could be interesting. Wondering why the went the route of From dusk till dawn and are using a vampire cartel though. It isn't targeted to Mexicans as far as I can tell and the only Mexican cast members are the anatongists.

Like a 5 or 6 out of 10. Rather underwhelming despite nothing making it unwatchable.

Mr robot, band of brothers, black mirror up next I suppose.

pillz
Member

Thu Mar 23 17:45:51
So I watched Iron Fist, mostly. I have ten minutes left, which I will never watch.

0/10

They get no points for anything at all in this show. It is an utter disappointment to me as an Iron Fist fan, and an utter disappointment in general. It is physically painful to watch.

I can not stress enough how much this should never have been viewed by a living soul.

pillz
Member

Thu Mar 23 17:45:56
So I watched Iron Fist, mostly. I have ten minutes left, which I will never watch.

0/10

They get no points for anything at all in this show. It is an utter disappointment to me as an Iron Fist fan, and an utter disappointment in general. It is physically painful to watch.

I can not stress enough how much this should never have been viewed by a living soul.

Pillz
Member

Wed Apr 05 15:36:02
The Blacklist.

I dont know where to begin. But i just say that James Spader is incredible for the first season or two.

Spider's performance seems like a good indicator of the series' quality as it progresses.

It was never objectively great, but it was selectively good. It struggled with a lot of fundamental problems that have caught up to it now. I've never been so disappointed before, though, and it seems obvious to me that the lead actresses' pregnancy rail roaded the show.

The Children
Member

Fri Apr 07 05:58:29
is shield watchable?

pillz
Member

Wed Apr 19 18:31:20
Not really. I saw Season 1 and 2. Two was better than one but neither was very good. Legit haven't touched the show in almost two years... and I usually try to see things through.

Also, for the record, Community is still the best series to air minus Farscape.

There are few things I shit more than JeffxAnnie... and one of them is ScottxEmma so fuck you Marvel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rWZmmo4uQo

pillz
Member

Wed Apr 19 18:33:14
shit to ship....

The Children
Member

Tue May 02 00:33:03
does fear the walking dead suck or what. jesus it is gettin worse and worse by the episodes...

had so much potential 2. walking dead but in city setting? yes please...instead we get mexico and mexican desert and unactable actors and just downright a shitty story.

wtf

Cherub Cow
Member

Tue May 02 04:35:44
Yeah it's bad overall. It has a few okay moments towards the end of season 2, but they really need to make it work in season 3 or it's not going to make it. (Season 3 premieres June 4th)

pillz
Member

Mon Jun 05 13:11:03
Just wrapped up RWBY Volume 4.

Very good! The animation style has changed very drastically from the previous 3 volumes, apparently as a result of them changing modeling software or something.

Characters also all got new models/outfits which aren't so bad.

So after the soul crushing finale of Volume 3, this season really seems a bit empty and like the entire 12 episodes are filler. This is the worst thing I have to say about it, though, it gets better.

***SPOILERS I guess

So RWBY has always been about both teams RWBY and JNPR, but with a large emphasis on team RWBY as its the titular team & character. According to some random YouTube fan video there was backlash from fans over a 4-part JNPR arc revolving around Jaune. While I agree Jaune is a waste of space, I actually really like JNPR and wished they'd feature more as main characters rather than support for big fights.

PROBLEM SOLVED BITCHES. Volume 4 is about JNPR! Well, minus Pyrrha (RIP) and plus Ruby. It maintains the RWBY focus by following each member of team RWBY individually after the fall of Beacon as each of them tackles the fallout in their own way. For Ruby this means forging ahead with JNPR in pursuit of justice & revenge, for Blake it means conquering demons from her past, for Yang it means overcoming (or accepting) weakness, and for Weiss it is taking her own initiative to help her friends at (great) personal expense.

And since Ruby is with JNPR (RNJR now) we also got to see a lot of character exposition for Jaune/Ren/Nora as well, like Ren & Nora's origin as well as the depth of Jaune's loss after the death of Pyrrha (RIP).

I felt as though Weiss' arc was the weakest of the 4 on the surface, because it was difficult to really feel at all invested in the events because they're exceptionally distant in relation to the others, both from a narrative perspective and geographically. I think having the General there was a good thing, and necessary to keep it grounded to the rest of the story, but overall it fell pretty flat. Of course it was worthwhile I guess because Weiss got double development points from the whole thing, finally mastering the ability to summon her family guardian from her glyphs as well as abandoning her life/family/inheritance (which was taken from her I guess) in order to help her friends/pursue her own path. This is valuable since previously about the only time we've seen Weiss take initiative (iirc) is when she was trying to usurp Ruby as team leader.

Blake is still by far the most boring and unlikable character of the show, bar none. Her arc was a lot more relevant than Weiss' to the immediate story (Weiss' stuff will be coming up for sure and be very important though). Im hoping that by confronting her past Blake can finally be a little less emo/angsty, but that seems overly optimistic. Still it was nice to see that they continued the white fang plot line during this season and in a direction that would appear to head (geographically) away from the other storylines.

Yang's arc was sort of empty. But Yang was always sort of an empty character. Definitely better than Blake and more agreeable than Weiss, but lacking substance somewhere. Im not sure that this season gave her any, but I think that accepting her vulnerability and loss could make her more interesting later depending on how the writers handle it. Her developments were sort of two fold... accepting her defeat and loss of her army and altering her fighting style not as a result of that (which she overcame herself) but in anticipation (and advice from her father) that it'd happen to her again if she didn't. And more obviously but Im not sure more importantly, she went in search of Ruby rather than her mother. Which I never really expected to go any other way - they already covered the Ruby/Yang/Raven dynamic with the story of how Yang almost got Ruby and herself killed as kids, and that didn't leave much room for her to chase her phantom mother while her sister is making a trek across the continent.

BUT - I think the fact she had the choice and went with Ruby over Raven did demonstrate that she'd refocused her priorities significantly since she had still been searching for Raven and wanted to see her after being saved in Volume 2 (and 3??). I guess this is similar to Weiss' choice and Blake's as well. Although while Weiss and Yang both advanced in their fighting skills Blake didn't seem to have that going for her.

As far as team RNJR goes, excellent work showing how deeply the loss of Pyrrha affected Jaune and also how he wants to become more powerful and helpful. Of course it also did a great job of show casing just how far he's come since even Volume 3, as he was an integral part of the big fight in Volume 4 and acted as the team leader flawlessly (team JNRR it is maybe???).

Ruby's development was a lot less clear to me than the others... I guess it had to do with Crow, and probably was a double edged sword. That her actions continue to put others in risk because shes overconfident in her abilities & that she actually can save the ones she loves... but not by herself.

Nora and Ren had their origins revealed, and it was pretty awesome imo. Not at all what I had expected. Im not sure if either of them really 'got' anything from slaying their demon, but it helped to explain their dynamic and probably unshackled them in the same way Yang's acceptance of being a cripple did.

We also got to meet Salem (voiced by Jen Taylor who will also one day voice my automated home computer) and some of Cinder's compatriots/equals at the table.

And Crow and Raven's origins got alluded.

And of course Ozpin's story was somewhat interesting.

But overall I'd say that the 4-way split of the main/supporting cast and their relatively unrelated (in the immediate sense, and entirely for Yang) stories definitely contributed to the fact that not much actually happened this season and the shows plot wasn't actually advanced at all, or not any meaningful amount distance... which is why this feels like filler. Not -bad- filler, but not amazing either.

Can't wait for Volume 5. Want to see what Yang and Weiss will be like now. Oh, and ironically, Weiss has left Haven to find the others but RNJR/Yang are all on their way to Haven.... Hopefully we can see them all reunite next season though.

And can I just say that the death of Pyrrha is tragic. As tragic as the death of Achilles. Who she was based on, and so her fate was decided from her conception and even alluded to in her name (Pyrrha Nikos, where Pyr can mean Fire and Nikos victory, but also Pyrrha -> Pyrrhus and so Pyrrhic Victory, and she was even killed by a flaming arrow from a fire villian... fire victory indeed i guess).

tl;dr Pyrrha was a great character and her story was very well thought out and it sucks it had to be like this.

pillz
Member

Mon Jun 05 13:23:04
I'm playing with the idea of comparing RWBY, Korra and Seven Deadly Sins to Wakfu/Avatar/Magi, as they have similar themes and formats (although Wakfu/Avatar/Magi parallels are much stronger and the other three sort of just overlap in areas).

Funny that Korra is actually so radically different than Avatar.. actually it seems a lot closer to RWBY than it does to Avatar in terms of the characters and format and stuff.

McKobb
Member

Fri Jun 23 09:56:09
Saw the first episode. Not horrible as advertised.

damn, who make that piece of shit. white boys shuldnt try 2 make anime. it ends up like dogshit yo.

pillz
Member

Sat Aug 19 00:16:04
Defenders shit so far.

McKobb
Member

Sat Aug 19 00:36:31
Snoozefest

pillz
Member

Sat Aug 19 11:59:59
Rofl @ luke cage

Its OK to be a criminal if youre a hungry kid!

McKobb
Member

Sat Aug 19 13:36:42
Too bad daredevil died

Hot Rod
Revved Up

Sat Aug 19 15:14:43
The 4th season of 'The Last Ship' premieres tonight with two episodes.

On TNT.

Pillz
Member

Sun Aug 20 16:53:22
The last ship is one of the worst shows I've seen in years.

It has a boring story and the acting is horrendous. The pacing of last season was also terrible, worse even than the current season of Got.

I can't imagine how it's still on air.

SPOILERS SPOILERS

Anyways the defenders was just SJW commentary: the miniseries.

Matt brats a kid senseless for going after looters, Luke Cage doesn't think black youth should be held accountable for their crimes because they're poor, apparently white men only fight crime because their privilege allows, and if you behead a several thousand year old pseudo immortal African ninja, it is homicide and the police need to be involved because violence solves nothing!

But seriously, this would have been about 100 times better if Luke hadn't been a pacifist BLM-lite soundboard and Danny wasn't in it at all.

And it'd still have been 99 times better just without danny. Holy fuck the man can not act. It is painful to watch.

Overall plot and story were shit, show was boring as fuck when nobody was being punched or thrown (so except for the last episode, each contained about 10 minutes worth watching).

They obviously could not balance a complex 4 man cast with supporting characters in the time they gave themselves and the serious felt disjointed as a result. Initial friction between them was non sensical mostly, except that Danny in the MCU (or Netflix equivalent) is the stupidest and most unlikeable character to exist and the actor is rage inducing, which makes the early problems in their group dynamic at least relatable because who the fuck can like Danny?

Hopefully Daredevil season 3 is not shit like Iron Fist and the Defenders.

Also hope punisher is good but at this rate I fully expect it to end in his suicide over his crimes against the economically disadvantaged

Pillz
Member

Sun Aug 20 17:21:12
Oh, also finished season 2 of Dark Matter.

Uh, surprisingly better than season 1. I've posted this before on UP maybe? Anyways it came together to be a decent show with a story and the lead from s1 is out so that's good.

Also happy Curtis is still there! Or Six, as he's called in the show.he played Curtis on 24, the most reoccurring CTU agent other than Jack or Tony. Jack eventually kills him and it is a sad moment because Jack obviously liked Curtis but both were too duty bound to budge. Sad times, 24 got show after far ape though.

Uh, ya I hated season 1 but 2 was better. It's budget appears to have been expanded greatly too which helps. Season 1 definitely suffered from money issues I felt.

-----

Also finished season 2 (series 2?) of Sword Art Online. The first arc was solid but the subsequent two were less so. The Norse thing felt like filler, which doesn't make that much sense given the brevity of seasons and fact that no new characters (player ones anyways) were introduced.

It seems unlikely it was filler though since it revised Kirito's final battle against Oberon since he went to reclaim Excalibur and Klein got a great weapon he is never gonna use, so I assume the NCP's/AI's will reappear with a connection to Oberon or Kayaba next season? And I expect Klein gives the hammer to a chick.

They left a of loose ends throughout (the odd NCP AI's and hammer, the missing SAO murderer, Oberon's connection to the medicuboid) so there's no shortage of plot for future seasons/series.

Still, felt the Excalibur / Norse thing was lacking (but good boss fight) and the whole final arc was very meh, as it focused on Asuna and not Kirito (first time that I can recall). Worst offense was not showing us the entirety of Kirito and Klein's Bridge fight, and just cutting straight to the sleeping Knights boss fight. Which was Meh tbh.

Kirito's fight also held plot significance I believe, cause it touched on his sister comments that he'd never fight like he used to again because his heart isn't in it (no risk of death, no spirit) but the feats he demonstrated on the bridge (mostly his willingness to fight to virtual death against a small army and his slashing of the magic attacks which was reminiscent of his feats on GGO) would indicate he can and will fight all out, if motivated (and in this instance by his desire to help Asuna).

I assume that this + Asuna's mother's approval of her continuing her gaming going to the special SAO survivot school indicates that Asuna is going to die (especially if Oberon is still involved some how).

Overall not as good as season 1 but good enough that season 3 could be promising given the plot points they've set up.

Oh ya curious how they finally mentioned how boss clearing works in ALO (7 guilds and each has 7 members) and that they've simultaneously introduced a second group of characters in a guild... They're short two members to be two full guilds (tho team Kirito isn't a guild and Asuna seems to want to be in the sleeping Knights) so that leaves room for 1 members for Klein to fall for and give the hammer to and 1 to betray them (since it's been a while).

pillz
Member

Sun Aug 20 22:48:15
Regarding Klein, his hammer, his love interests, and the size of the two parties and the potential for a 14 man team-up:

Yui was also an NPC AI and she gained sentience, and Klein seems to be into one of the faery/elf/whatever queen's daughters? Although he was also into Thor-posing-as-Freyja so who knows.

But, while the SAO group is 7 with Asuna, if she left they could introduce the black dude again since he's always just dangling on the periphery. Although I sense there is a reason for that, being that hes the most normal guy in the group so maybe something they should be aspiring for? idk.

Anyways that'd just leave one spot, which is more realistic probably since they spent this season introducing 2 two characters (well a few but they were all just plot support for those) and killed one of them off so like, if they wanna go with betrayal (and they should) itd make sense to introduce them in the beginning and then theyd have time to do the whole backstabby thing to fill out the character arc and also the story.

Also correction to previous post: It wasn't Oberon behind the Medicuboids it was Kayaba, so Asuna won't die do to revenge or misguided love or whatever, but because Kayaba already killed her in season 1 (but somehow she didnt die???).

Also ++++ for Kayaba being in the picture think that could get fun since he did give Kirito the seed and Kirito did release the seed and they never did reveal who operated GGO (well the name of the company yes but everything else was impossible to figure out), and they said many other VROMMRPG seed worlds were operated under similar mysterious conditions.

pillz
Member

Sun Aug 20 22:53:03
Also if im drawing wild conclusions from thin air, Kayaba impersonated a player in season 1 during the SAO incident... so like if there is only gonna be need for 1 more person to round out a two guild team and Kayaba is both a man (not necessarily important) and supposedly dead, we could see his female assistant (who was the liason for the medicuboid stuff or whatever) also impersonate a player while she wrecks havoc and be not only the villain (or one of them anyways), but also the new team member + klein's love interest + hammer user + backstabber).

Aaaalso since Kirito is working on all this stuff to let Yui interact somewhat with the real world, I would consider that when weighing the possibility of Klein's inevitable love plot and which route the writers will take...

But the assistant thing is much more solid imo.

pillz
Member

Sun Aug 20 23:17:32
Also get prepared for Shadowland in Daredevil season 3 or Defenders season 2

McKobb
Member

Wed Aug 23 09:44:47
Anyone seen Showtime's I'm Dying Up Here? It loosely documents the history of standup in 70's los Angeles mainly regarding The Comedy Store run by Mitzi Shore. They changed the names probably to dodge paying off the large cast of talent incubated there. Even the club and Mitzi' s name were changed with Richard Prior and Johnny Carson as the only real names included.

pillz
Member

Wed Sep 13 05:18:34
One Punch Man

10/10

It's only got a single short (13?) episode season, but it is pretty great.

It follows Saitama, hero for fun, who inexplicably possesses power greater than any professional hero or threat - which is where the name comes from.

It's a manga originally (more anime seasons coming) and it's a satire on manga/anime in general. Would highly recommend it to anybody who just wants to watch a normal dude out hero everybody.

Fight scenes are really great, except for Saitama's, which all end... predictably =D

It seems to follow the same themes as seasons 1 & 2 did more or less: The nature of reality, death, importance of memories (and what those are in relation to what reality might be), and of course friendship and love 'cause anime.

SPOILERS ahead:

So, a 3rd generation of brain-linked gaming gear has come out, the Augma. Unlike the NerveGear and Atmosphere, however, Augma is not a virtual reality system but rather an augmented reality system. So it can be used constantly for things like messages or information or allowing the entire caste see Yui as though she were there. It also means that the game world is actually just the real world, but fancied up, and players have to travel to participate in events.

From the beginning Kirito demonstrated a complete lack of interest in the Augma despite several of the group (everyone but him?) playing it and following the game's mascot/PR figure, an AI avatar named Yuuna.

I would say this disinterest makes a fair bit of sense: Kirito has since the beginning been of the opinion that VR is 'better' than real life, and that the two are actually not so different or disconnected from each other. It is odd for one reason though, namely that he'd spent a fair bit of time in season 2 creating what was basically a bridge between VR and real life - sort of a manifestation of his belief that the two are kind of like sides of the same coin I guess? And as mentioned above, the Augma did allow for the sort of interaction with Yui that he'd been striving for... but he seemed unimpressed by the physical limitations presented by AR.

Anyways. Its a series about death games so time for death games amirite?

In the lead-up to an actual concert in a stadium by the AI Yuuna, the AR game began spawning bosses around the city where Yuuna was putting on live performances during the raids and would personally greet the person who got the kill.

Only the bosses are taken straight out of SAO - which is weird since only ALO has an SAO component to it (technically all VR games are built on the same SAO seed, but only ALO has an element of the original SAO to it since the world of SAO, Aincard, exists as a place in ALO). Kleine's guild & Asuna defeat the first boss while being observed/helped by the #2 ranked player.

Turns out, when SAO survivors are killed in the Augma, they lose all of their SAO memories (and the condition might be progressive), and nobody knows why. As the boss raids occur daily the number of people affected grows. First Kleine and his guild, then Asuna...

Which of course raises all sorts of questions for the viewer about Kirito/Asuna, since SAO is like a step away from being a haram anime and at least one other character has a thing for him. So if Asuna can't remember the year+ that they spent together in the game and how they fell in love, what is the foundation of their relationship?

Well obviously this is brought up by Asuna but is swept away with self reassurance and reassurances to Kirito that love will always overcome everything. Although when contemplating his own course of action, he did worry about the possibility he'd also lose his memories and what that'd mean for he and Asuna.

So, in season 2 Kirito didn't seem all that interested in fighting seriously without the threat of real death hanging over himself or others, until of course Asuna needed his help and he saw the need to again.

Turns out that the #2 ranked player is an SAO survivor from Asuna's old guild, but while he's a total badass now he was an utter coward in SAO. He lets on early on that without the fear of death hanging over them, he can finally be strong, or something.

Now, note that season 2's villain was also an SAO survivor. There, memories were important to him because he enjoyed murdering people, and he chastised Kirito for suppressing his own similar memories. One had led their memories possess them, the other was running from them. In the end Kirito recognized the importance of accepting what he'd done, because he'd done it to save lives.

It turns out that #2 (Eiji) had lost his SAO girlfriend in a boss fight, which meant she'd tried to clear a level and help end the game - and that he was unable to help her due to his own fear. That is in contrast to Kirito, who only seems to falter when hes not sure hes doing the right thing (or has done).

This is an interesting juxtaposition for the sake of the movies plot because Asuna has sacrificed herself for Kirito twice now (once almost dying, once breaking the game to die to save him), and Kirito has similarly sacrificed himself for Asuna several times (against Gleam Eyes when he almost died, against Heathcliff where after Asuna died he died and he broke the game to kill Kayaba, and again against Oberon).

So it's sort of interesting how a coward whose love interest died while he was powerless to save her, was intentionally targeting members of Kirito and Asuna's group, given that they've put their lives on the line multiple times for each other).

Oh ya, targeting.

So memories and reality.. well turns out the AI Yuuna is based on the likeness of Eiji's dead girlfriend ans the Augma was created by her father, and their goal was to induce activity in their brains using the association between seeing SAO bosses with memories of SAO to identify relevant memories to download - and apparently the association between SAO bosses and imminent death triggered an intense fear response which renders them both cowardly and unable to re-remember (I guess the implication being that having their memories returned would be pointless if they never got over their newfound fear?).

But WHY WAS HE TARGETING KIRITO AND ASUNA?

Not sure, honestly, but I assume it had to do with jealously of their relationship since he'd been in Asuna's guild & she'd been kind to him during their time in SAO, and since everybody knows how Kirito beat the game having witness Asuna die, even after being killed himself.

This is reinforced by a statement he makes in his final battle with Kirito whereby he states that Asuna isn't enough for Kirito and that hes also trying to romance Yuna (AI = Yuuna, dead girl & her AI afterimage = Yuna).

So anyways, Kirito is utter shit at this Augma thing and gets his ass handed to him in his first encounter with Eiji. He investigated things, uncovered the memory stealing plot (and the question of whether or not players would be better off forgetting their SAO experience comes up).

Yuna has been guiding Kirito to the truth, as her memory&deep learning resurrected AI self begins to take shape, and doesn't want to be resurrected as an AI.

Kirito pleads with the world at large to stop going to the boss raids, which is laughed off collectively, and he goes to fight in them by himself. Sinon caught on to his plan and helped him out the first day, yay, and Kirito is seen vastly improving his skills as he races to level up and keep the bosses from killing any SAO survivors. Once again, Kirito with a mission = unstoppable, even if just 5 days ago he was too out of shape to swing his arms around effectively.

Eventually we find that Yuna's father has been communicating with the surviving Kayaba AI (which was hinted at existing but never confirmed previously) and that the stadium concert was a ploy to get all the SAO survivors they could into one place, then have the entire stadium filled with SAO bosses so they could finish the memory theft.

-> Oh yes, the Augma was provided free to all the students at the SAO survivor school which is mentioned at the beginning of the movie.

Anyways, Kayaba, having witnessed both Asuna and Kirito break the system, the existence of Yui, and the misguided and selfish ends of Oberon and Yuna's father, says he no longer believes in a ranked Ordinal scale system, he believes there is something that transcends the system. Unclear if this means Kirito or love in general - I like to think he means Kirito.

Anyways, Yuna's AI-ghost sends Kirito and the rest to Aincard to fight the level 100 boss which will bring the simulation to an end (or something). It's at this point that Asuna realizes she can't save Kirito by unplugging him, because he lives for the sake of saving others, and the amount of people & wireless power in the stadium will fire everyone's brains unless he stops the process.

When she learns that Yuna died in SAO (meaning she tried to clear the game), she realizes that this dead chick sacrificed her life to help others and (i presume) that she's sacrificing her chance at a second life to do it again, and Asuna decides shes no longer afraid and goes in to help Kirito and the others.

After some fighting Yui shows up and shes brought all the friends they'd amassed in GGO and ALO, and Kirito & Asuna use their sword skills (The one Asuna got from Yuuki, and the one Kirito developed when Kayaba gave him dual wielding in SAO) to finish the boss (reminiscent of all the bosses theyd finished together in SAO and ALO) and then Kayaba can be heard saying something like "So now you've cleared it for real Kirito", and Kirito is presented with a giant ass sword and teleported as an avatar into the stadium where he super admin hax all the monsters and puts an end to everything, before waking up in his chair.

Yuna gets to live her lifes dream, singing in front of an audience, and returns Asuna's memories (fuck knows how everyone else got theirs back) before disappearing herself for good.

-> Why wasn't Klein terrified after losing his memories? He seemed fine losing them, and he joining the fight in Aincard as well...

Ending was predictably cheesy love shit between Asuna and Kirito, who got properly engaged after Kirito dropped a ring in her palm before diving to fight the final boss.

After credits reveal that the Ministry of Security dude or whatever he is, who helped with Oberon and the Death Gun incidents, opted to recruit rather than charge Yuna's father, so he could work on an ominously titled project Rath.

------

Overall the movie really didn't open up any new themes to the series, and I didn't feel as though it did an especially interesting job of examining existing ones. It also didn't progress the series' plot in a significant way from what I can tell, except to reveal Kayaba's continued existence as an AI and the mysterious project Rath.

It was about 2 hours long, or roughly 6 anime episodes, so I guess with that in mind it could have done a lot less. We did get solid Asuna/Kirito development by way of their love surviving Asuna's memory loss, as well as their engagement, and Kirito's willingness to meet her mother (something he'd been reluctant about since the movie began).

Also got to see that Kirito was considering applying the the university/college that Yuna's father taught at and that Kayaba attended (as a pupil of Yuna's father), which was a follow up on his interests in robotics and VR and the overlapping of the real and virtual worlds.

It was alright but not incredible. Worth it to SAO fans, I guess, but I'm not sure it'd be important to watch before the 3rd season.

Pillz
Member

Thu Oct 12 17:17:33
Sherlock might have a more disappointing and steep drop in quality than TVD

Pillz
Member

Thu Oct 12 17:22:11
Season 3 was poor but 4 was a tremendous waste of time.

pillz
Member

Thu Oct 19 03:39:36
ID-0 on Netflix, an Anime, is pretty much Firefly. There are other things but mostly draws from Firefly.

pillz
Member

Thu Oct 19 03:45:25
The Authority would make an amazing anime adaptation.

It really is not suited to a western cartoon format IMO, but thinking about it, it'd make an amazing anime. And that'd be perfect too, since Ellis' run is like high-art deconstruction cape and Millar's is like exxxxtreme cape. Both I think better suited to translation into anime as genres.

pillz
Member

Thu Oct 19 03:47:29
Also mfw anime Engineer

mmmphff.jpg

pillz
Member

Fri Nov 10 18:23:31
Supernatural: how low can it get, really?

I think that its been canceled finally, so I guess not much more. But wow.

pillz
Member

Fri Nov 24 22:41:12
Fate/Apocrypha

Why?

Fate/Zero was good. Not great, I'm sure I posted my review of it, but it was good.

What was great about it was the fight choreography. It's incredible.

Fate/Stay Night (Unlimited Bladeworks) had similarly amazing fight scenes and choreography. Maybe not as good as Zero, it's tough to beat all those amazing Saber fights when half of your series is dedicated to the protagonist talking to himself about how much they have to kill themselves... but anyways.

Both excellent in the animation and choreography departments, with coherent stories.

Apocrypha is... I mean the animation is mediocre, there is no good fight choreography. The fights are big moves with lots of cuts and sparks and face shots, nothing like the other two series.

The story... maybe I missed something but it doesn't make any sense in the context of the other two. I get it, 'parallel reality blah blah', but jesus christ almighty. There is no connection to the 'mainline' Fate universe at all.

Reading a bit about this, it seems there are dozens of stories across at least 3? timelines spanning manga/video games/anime, but you'd think theyd try to transition the anime audience into what the fuck this is all about -in relation to the other animes-.

I guess it doesn't matter as theyre not connected but its sort of stupid to have zero character holdover or story relationship to the previous animes.

While the others gave us fan favourites like Iskandar, Saber, Lancer, and generally made all servants but a few interesting... this one tries very hard to have some exposition for the servants but it is all so flat.

Thus far zero servants are interesting. Maybe if we were to push things, Frankenstien may have been the best. You got your typical Berserker compassion moments with the most badass fight scenes (but still not that spectacular), but she was obviously one of the first to die.

Rest of the heroes feel like the rest of the anime. Forced, half assed, and not worth it.

Netflix has 1/2 of the series up which is weird, cause its ongoing and the latest netflix episode is only like a month old. Rest should be up by January I guess?

Sort of interesting how they do run parallels between this holy grail war (and the 3rd of the timeline, before it) with the Zero/Stay Night wars. As in, the servant who lives / master who didnt die dynamic. And how that servant is named Shirou Kotomine and uses weapons like Kotomine but has the wish (twisted version maybe) of Shirou.

Shirou being the protagonist of Stay Night and Kotomine being the antagonist of Zero and the first part of Stay Night.

They should bring back Iskandar and Saber for the next one. They never did get to finish their fight properly in Zero... and are the best heroes bar none the series has produced so far.

I just want to say that it seems pretty obvious that Jiren is training Goku and Vegeta, in the same way that Vegeta trained Cabba and Goku did Caulifa.

I mean it's possible that that is not what is happening, but hes just been demonstrated to be so powerful and the fact hes holding back is brought up every 5 minutes...

Overall DBS is not that great though. I'd recommend it to Dragon Ball Z fans because it isn't bad, but there is nothing special about it. Animation is not consistent, fight scenes are not consistent, theyre not as good as DBZ choreographically speaking.

But we do get a lot of badass Vegeta moments imo.

----------

RWBY Volume 5 (1-12) + Spoilers

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

I mean just wow. Nothing has fucking happened this season. The Blake/Sun plot is boring, uninspired, and took way too long. The Weiss/Yang plot actually set something up in a reasonable timeframe... but its been merged into the main plot now and that has not moved a fucking inch since the season 4 finale.

Until episode 11 that is...

And here we are, 12 episodes into a 15 episode season, in a show that is supposed to be about awesome fight scenes.... We've had exactly like 3 fights, none of them at all comparable to previous seasons of the show. Story hasn't budged an inch, like I said.

Worst decline ever.

pillz
Member

Sun Jan 14 11:06:02
Two episodes into the big ending... two episodes where everybody is in a giant room fighting... and NO FIGHTING.

You get people jumping around like idiots and a few seconds of back-and-forth, boring ass kicks or cane-whacks.

Pathetic.

Cherub Cow
Member

Mon Jan 15 23:33:16
The latest Family Guy had a funny ending :D
They did a Paul Walker "Furious 7" thing with Stewie's bear.

..
I've continued watching "Lucifer". It's been fun. I'm annoyed by Aimee Garcia's character (she was on Dexter, and on Lucifer she plays the lab tech) because it's annoying to have a regular believer on the show. Even though the show has been about "God" and the devil, aside from her it mostly just treats the religious subjects like another mythology of superpowers, human vices, and psychological traps rather than as some confirmation of belief. She also seems way too similar to DC's other TV show nerd characters: the overqualified behind-the-scenes person who can hack anything. Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl all have that same character (sometimes multiple characters of this type per show), and it's just bad writing. Luckily that side of her character is minimized and not a staple of each episode, which is the case on those awful DC shows (Lucifer is set apart via its different show writers and its "Vertigo" status).

It's been strange that they've tried to keep Tricia Helfer (she plays Charlotte Richards) on the show following the exit of Lucifer's mother who was inhabiting her character's body, but I've sort of accepted that as the crew just wanting to keep the actress involved rather than wanting to maintain the story continuity. A similar issue happened with Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt), who randomly became a bounty hunter on the show not because it made sense for the continuity but because it was the excuse the writers created in order to explain Brandt's real-life maternity leave. When the cast gets past those annoying plot moments, they do seem to bounce off of one another well. Kevin Alejandro in particular shows via his Dan Espinoza that the cast gets to have fun with the characters instead of just being static types for inflexible writers. That reminds me of how later "Star Trek: TNG" was treated or of the Hulu show "Quick Draw" was managed — actors getting to influence the show's direction on set.

A fun surprise to see Tom Welling join the show! (He was Clark/Superman on Smallville.) It's good to see him outside of Smallville, and that kind of highlights how strange it is that he's done so *little* outside of Smallville. Right now it looks like they've set it up that his character will threaten Chloe's life (S3E11 was a sort of show re-cap that explained that Lucifer would be punished for leaving Hell, and Chloe appears to exist for that purpose). They revealed his identity at the end of S3E10, but with S3E11 being a flashback and with the show taking a break, it won't be until Monday, January 22nd that more progresses with that story..

Cherub Cow
Member

Mon Jan 15 23:35:27
*or of [how] the Hulu show

hood
Member

Mon Jan 15 23:44:05
"Oh, also finished season 2 of Dark Matter."

Dark Matter s1 was entertaining enough to keep watching, but not because it had some great story. It just kinda hooked you in for no real reason. I agree, once they got rid of that annoying main person, the show took off. But I'm extremely fucking disappointed it was canceled. Horrible fucking cliffhanger to get canceled on. Fuck syfy.

pillz
Member

Wed Jan 17 11:58:01
Hadnt realized it was cancelled. Thats unfortunate because I was also hoping to have that cliffhanger followed up and resolved.... Should have just cancelled it after season 1 at that rate.

hood
Member

Fri Jan 19 08:07:01
Syfy just shouldn't have cancelled it. Was doing much better than some shitty shows they renewed.

pillz
Member

Sat Jan 20 12:22:25
RWBY Volume 5 Chapter 13 (Season Finale)

I'd say this episode contained the season's 3rd 'serious' fight scene, and it was obviously supposed to be the biggest - it was between two maidens, it was in the finale, it was the longest -but it was garbage. A bunch of sword parries and jumping on rocks.

I really can not overemphasis how bad the fights have been this season. Honestly, the first one (Yang vs. her mother's thugs) was probably the best of the season... it lasted like 9 seconds.

Otherwise, the ending was terrible.

The previous seasons didn't end with Cliffhanger's of this nature... they all concluded after resolving something and setup the next season to take place after a time-skip. Not the case here.

Honestly Im just gonna stop typing cause its so shit and such a vast departure from the shows roots that Im not sure why it has fans anymore.

And ive toyed with the idea of criticizing it on YouTube but wow, people actually enjoyed this garbage.

pillz
Member

Sat Jan 27 12:20:25
I was mistaken, Chapter 14 was the finale.

I give up trying to make sense of this downward spiral. Finale had literally no fightscene. Some pushing here and there, thats all.

The finale also watched like a Female Empowerment/Role model ad.

I mean, it is a show where the titular character and 5/7 supporting characters are women. And they are monster hunters. Why do we need scenes that clearly were written for GURLPOWER when the whole show is about girl power?????

pillz
Member

Sat Jan 27 12:20:25
I was mistaken, Chapter 14 was the finale.

I give up trying to make sense of this downward spiral. Finale had literally no fightscene. Some pushing here and there, thats all.

The finale also watched like a Female Empowerment/Role model ad.

I mean, it is a show where the titular character and 5/7 supporting characters are women. And they are monster hunters. Why do we need scenes that clearly were written for GURLPOWER when the whole show is about girl power?????

pillz
Member

Sat Jan 27 12:20:25
I was mistaken, Chapter 14 was the finale.

I give up trying to make sense of this downward spiral. Finale had literally no fightscene. Some pushing here and there, thats all.

The finale also watched like a Female Empowerment/Role model ad.

I mean, it is a show where the titular character and 5/7 supporting characters are women. And they are monster hunters. Why do we need scenes that clearly were written for GURLPOWER when the whole show is about girl power?????

Cherub Cow
Member

Tue Jan 30 22:20:49
@"Lucifer", S3E13: "Til Death Do Us Part"

Super funny episode :D

In E12 they established that Cain (Tom Welling) was only using Chloe as a means to die (she makes Lucifer vulnerable, so Cain thought maybe she'd make him vulnerable too), so I was off on Cain using Chloe to punish Lucifer — though that still seems to be the "God" character's plan. Then again, the major story arc has been on track for a reversal of Amenadiel and Lucifer's positions in Hell and Heaven, so it's possible that Chloe isn't a punishment but a way for Lucifer to understand that he's actually a good person (Hail Satan) — that is, Chloe wouldn't have to be killed in the story but instead saved by Lucifer as a final reversal of his egotism in the eventual series finale... Until then...

To E13: the trope of "pretending to be a gay couple" has been used a few times in comedy — so not original here — but it was done well with Lucifer and Cain's undercover work. There were a few scenes where they get to have conversations with three different meanings, which meant these scenes were funny, romantic, and developmental at once — good writing and acting there ♥:D

Probably their funniest episode so far, and it kind of solidifies for me that this is a show that I actually like instead of just a show that I'm watching for some brain-dead reason :D

..
X-Files season 11 has also been really good so far!

(SPOILER ahead if you haven't seen the opening episode yet)

The writers made a big move by saying that the virus scenario from the season 10 finale was just Scully's premonition. Normally I prefer writers to have to deal with the consequences of an extreme situation that they created rather than starting over, but this kind of works with the show. Now they have to answer other questions, like whether Scully's premonition was an actual future or just a version that she was given in order to get her to respond in a certain way. But — as is — it's been painted as her son giving her warnings telepathically. This makes it a little difficult to believe that they would just go right back to handling X-Files, but again, it works with the show: the X-Files have always been their way to keep a pulse on the events around them.

Also a nice sort of reveal that the Smoking Man is/(may be?) the father of Scully's child. It never really made sense that it was Mulder's child that was implanted (why drug Scully only to implant Mulder's DNA?), so this just works. It's a shame that this makes Skinner once again duplicitous (seemingly working for the Smoking Man rather than being totally honest with Mulder and Scully), but Skinner has always had that belief that information should be protected to control a favorable outcome. Not very anarchist of him, for sure, but consistent.

S11E04 ("The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat") was well-written.. something to be watched a few times to appreciate fully, maybe. They made fun of their own tropes of parking lot meetings (in a good way), and they also had some nice moments where they reflected on their own nostalgia issues versus trying to be relevant and present — kind of skirting that "Make America Great Again" slogan/idea of searching for certainties (realizing that, slogan or not and Trump-associated phrase or not, certainty has its appeal) while also addressing the realization that conspiracy and government duplicity has become muddied by the eternal doubt of comment sections, and one's memories of the past may have their own shortcomings via the "Mengele/Mandela Effect". In short: a good treatment of truth and fiction. Hopefully I can find time to do a full write-up of this season, episode by episode, because it's been really good :D

Cherub Cow
Member

Fri Feb 02 02:06:34
@X-Files S11E05: "Ghouli"

Another good one! :D
Emotional monologue by Scully at William's bedside and some solidification of the plot details (like that William gave her the premonition about the viral outbreak). They also guest-spotted François Chau, who has had two uncredited appearances on the X-Files before this... like.. imdb doesn't even list those appearances. That makes me think that I'm wrong, so I'll try to find those episodes (and will likely find out that I confused him with another actor) ;p

The Children
Member

Sun Feb 04 02:53:34
guess ill try xfiles then

coz last season was kinda crappy

Cherub Cow
Member

Fri Feb 09 01:51:12
@X-Files S11E06: "Kitten"

Haley Osment very nearly ruined this episode :p
Casting kind of messed up by choosing him.. he's semi-funny/semi-serious, which works for X-Files, but in the Vietnam flashbacks it really did not work to have a pudgy man playing a Marine .. After Osment learned about getting the part, I wonder if he went on a run or did anything at all to prepare for the role — the baby fat says, "No" ;D
(To clarify, it's fine if he wants to be fat in real life, so I'm only talking about how it didn't fit for his *character* to be fat; he should have lost weight or not been cast)

Aside from him, this episode managed good development by bringing Skinner back into the fold. Mulder may still dislike that Skinner keeps information from he and Scully, but he knows that Skinner has been trying to protect them by treading a line between policy and morality, with Skinner "[kissing] the ring" (appearing to be on the side of the Smoking Man and the higher authorities so that he can keep his position and gain insider access) while also wanting to learn the truth and help Mulder and Scully in the process. Kind of a shame that Mitch Pileggi had to waste his good acting in a conversation with Haley Osment, though ;D .. that must have been difficult for him.

Also, some doors were left open in this episode: like questioning why Kitten's son would take up his father's mantle by dressing like a monster and collecting ears (residuals passed on to him from his father's chemical exposure which caused him to act out?), why an MK experiment was being transported in Vietnam (intended for testing on the Vietnamese population?), why its symptoms have started to express in Skinner again (just because of recent exposure to the area?), and, of course, *specifically* how chem trails have made people into mind-controlled drones ;D

Cherub Cow
Member

Fri Feb 09 01:57:23
Almost forgot!: Another curiosity is that the face of Kitten's wife was removed. Given that few middle-aged women have been in the show's relaunch, a natural conclusion might be that Erika Price (Barbara Hershey) was his wife as a means of monitoring his progress. But a problem with that theory is that it wouldn't make sense for her to not care that her son was in the woods killing people. Something to consider :p

..
All of these shows took breaks for the early new year or for whatever other TV-scheduling reason — several of them after losing major characters.

Cherub Cow
Member

Tue Mar 06 22:02:23
Lucifer has been funny since its return. It's definitely my new "Quick Draw" or "Don't Trust the B— in Apt 23", which means that it will probably be cancelled very soon ;D

X-Files' "Rm9sbG93ZXJz" was kind of interesting.. just a comical look at how over-connectivity and over-automation in tech can be used against users by AI. Scully's house was overly-wired (lots of "overage" here) so it was pretty easy for the AI to disrupt it, but even Mulder's house with all of its low-tech safeguards could still be infiltrated by drones.. so their main focus was just on their Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young stated theme of "Teach Your Children[/AI] Well". It kind of shows part of a cultural shift around AI, because where the old X-Files would just show AI being malevolent and dangerous, this X-Files (and also movies like 2014's "Transcendence") have sort of accepted that AI will arrive but just hope that positive human input can steer AI into being friendly. If there's any truth to a Skynet future of human irrelevance, then this might only be like making friends with one's future jailers. ;)

Designated Survivor returned with some silly writing. Since Natascha McElhone wanted to be written off of the show, they had to write this season's return episode as a kind of eulogy.. but where it got silly was the "He's back!" moment when Kirkman put on his game face and met a new problem. It seemed like more of their episode-in-a-bottle formula where they have to reset things each week so that they can move on to the next topic. It makes it a pretty transparent way for the show writers to have decided not to be affected even by continuity as big as the first lady dying. Doesn't seem likely that the network will be able to afford this format much longer.

Cherub Cow
Member

Fri Mar 23 01:22:26
@X-Files S11E08: "Familiar"

Kind of interesting... They made it a witchcraft case, but while the costumes and some of the outcomes were fun, there were eye-sore moments like how the chief of police was a little too high-pitched and squirmish for the role... not a bad episode all the same :p

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@X-Files S11E09: "Nothing Lasts Forever"

Good stuff! X-Files has continued to sample from recent bio research. In "My Struggle II" it was CRISPR-Cas9, and in this episode it was how harvesting material from certain organs has been connected to life extension and how parabiosis is one of only a few methods that has actually been shown to convert old phenotypes into young (though the verdict is still out on what exactly it is within parabiosis that accomplishes this.. mostly just correlations for individual cell types or a larger (more obvious?) conclusion that it's the whole system of stem cells, ROSs, mtDNA/ETC function, etc. that needs to be involved in age-regulation). The character of Dr. Randolph Luvenis has been using parabiosis, but the character of Barbara Beaumont has been using some kind of organ smoothie, which was probably more sci-fi than science since — when it comes to aging — there's not a lot of good evidence that *ingesting* "young" cells/nutrition (subjecting them to digestive enzymes) can have the same effects as direct injections or parabiosis (though many aging-drug manufacturers would like to have consumers believe that an oral supplement can do the trick). Good diet is obviously important, but eating a gross-organ stem cell smoothie might just increase one's cholesterol levels rather than transfer the benefits of those stem cells to one's own cells.

The plot around this episode was a bit wonky though. I hate episodes about Scully's religious tendencies, and in this season up until this episode it was actually starting to look like Scully had said, "Goodbye," to all of that faith logic. Not so much. Lots of scenes were in a church, the "avenger" of the episode was a religious dogmatic, and the anti-aging doctor had roped genetically malformed people into a cult-like setting which didn't make much sense beyond the episode's walls. Mostly painful and uninteresting subject matter, though if divorced of religion it did at least allow Mulder and Scully to have a productive discussion on what it meant for them (Scully in particular) to sacrifice good careers and good lives so that they could work the X-Files and have a child together — it's been nice that each episode of the season has had some thematic continuity regarding William or how the characters view what has become of their lives. And this "avenger" angle did make for a couple of funny deaths in the end.. Beaumont's in particular happened very quickly, which was a good switch from all of her long-winded and self-gratifying scenes :p

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@X-Files S11E10: "My Struggle IV"

(( SPOILERS AHEAD ))

lol@Mulder killing 5 people and not getting much information from it :D
..pretty awesome gore for the man that William exploded in the car :D
oh my gods@motel and William as Dr. Manhattan scene :o
...major house-cleaning in this episode after losing the two new villains, Reyes, and Skinner maybe in the hospital if he survived. Smoking Man has survived worse, so shots to the chest wouldn't be unheard of for him to survive.. He's basically Murdoc from MacGyver at this point. It's nice at least that they didn't cliffhanger on William. Seemed obvious that he would survive.. though I expected it would be through some use of illusion rather than him being able to get shot in the head.

A very plot-based episode. Mostly action. They solved a lot of the plotlines by killing people.. that may be more in the interest of resetting for the next season than for concluding a story.. but since most shows (except sitcoms maybe) don't have imagination after a relationship produces children, then they may be concluding Mulder and Scully's dynamic. It's sad to me both that writers can't write a relationship without lots of breakups and reunite moments and that audiences grow dissatisfied when a TV couple ends up together. Difficult to say which one is more at fault: the writers for failing to bring audiences around to the idea that people can be interesting after commitment, or the audiences for making writers abandon the possibility so that they can see the next ingénue and warrior. Gillian Anderson had hinted that this would be her last season on the show, but it'd be pretty lame if they just put Scully on a virtual maternity leave by having her character absent from most episodes minus random cameos while she deals with pregnancy. I could see them doing that: Mulder on a case, calling for a 2-minute Anderson spot that was filmed by a detached crew that was flown to wherever Anderson happened to be in order to set up a mid-shot plan fixe in some small set representing Anderson's home. And funnily enough, the writers might want to be better than that, but Anderson may not.
/rant

Without worrying about the production-side outcomes for this episode or how long it would be before a season 12 (2 years?), it was a fun episode.

Cherub Cow
Member

Tue Apr 24 21:52:33
@"Lucifer" S3E21: "Anything Pierce Can Do I Can Do Better"

aww ♥:)
Sad ending for Lucifer in this episode, but this was a good one. Lauren German has been the weak link for acting caliber on the show (she doesn't seem present in the cast's mood, hasn't tapped into the improv, and focuses too much on her own pre-planned gestures), but she had a good acting moment when she almost broke down in front of Lucifer — her reaction was really genuine and it brought an unexpected emotionalism to the scene. In addition to Linda (Rachael Harris) explaining that Lucifer needed to exercise his own free will, German's performance of being hurt made it easy for Tom Ellis (plays Lucifer) to show that Lucifer was ready to get over the final hurdle by admitting his feelings to Chloe. Weirdly, German's scene actually commanded a bigger reaction from Ellis and *Ellis* may not have delivered enough.. but with the ending they left room for Lucifer to become a little more introspective before becoming human enough for Chloe (i.e., Ellis showing reserve here gives him room for more emotion later).

This TV trope of "will they ever fall in love?" is definitely cliché (I even mentioned it above with the X-Files), but I think this show has been giving it a good run. Some of the Facebook-fed comments on Hulu seem to think that a show cannot exist successfully if a couple gets together, but to me that's a mistake. I just hope that they don't keep stalling the relationship because of some misguided need to avoid change — though that makes a good parallel for Lucifer's want to return to an episodic formula with Chloe. As is it looks like Chloe and Pierce will be together for longer (Pierce just proposed), but that leaves room for Pierce to tell Chloe something romantic when he dies which somehow bonds Lucifer and Chloe together. So Pierce dying, Lucifer admitting his feelings, and Chloe learning that Lucifer is actually the Devil (praise His name, Hail Satan!) could all make for good moments.. though Pierce dying may be the only one of those plot points to occur as this season winds down. :/